


Festival of Fear

by CrypticGabriel



Series: Five Nights at Flute's [October 2014] [2]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Blood and Gore, Body Horror, Claustrophobia, Gen, Horror, Nyctophobia, Psychological Horror, coulrophobia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-10
Updated: 2014-10-10
Packaged: 2019-06-04 20:34:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,073
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15155099
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrypticGabriel/pseuds/CrypticGabriel
Summary: Annie, Bertholdt, and Reiner all head to a carnival to meet up with the rest of their friends. However, when the three of them show up and see the rest of their group isn't there, they decide to check out a mysterious new attraction.





	Festival of Fear

_It was the annual trip. They_ go there every single year. It was an autumn carnival where most people that couldn’t afford going to all the nicer, more expensive Halloween attractions could go. And now it was open on the full moon: October eighth.

Annie was driving, with Bertholdt beside her. Reiner was being a back seat driver as always and criticizing every single thing that Annie did when she was driving them to the carnival. It was rather dark out on this road.

“Are they going to meet us there?” Bertholdt asked.

“Think so,” Annie mumbled and kept looking forward.

“It’s odd that the carnival is open tonight,” Reiner admitted. “Usually it’s not open this late.”

“Oh well. It’s the only night that fits our schedules.” Annie kept a leveled head, even thought Bertholdt was nervously looking around at the woods on both sides of them. Poor guy was afraid of the dark.

 

“No clowns better be there this year.” Reiner watched the woods as well. “They scare the shit out of me.”

“We know,” the other two groaned in unison. He would never let them forget it, ever since that day they went to the Big Apple Circus and he was horrified of Grandma the Clown.

“Are we there yet?”

“For the last time, _no._ ”

“I’m just checking!”

“Keep it cool Reiner, for fuck sake,” Annie sighed.

“We’re here!”

She was startled and quickly stopped in the lot. Bertholdt was almost flung forward but he quickly held onto the handle. The girl that had been driving them here shot Reiner a dirty look.

“Way to fucking go,” she muttered. She got out, as well as her companions.

“Let’s hurry before the lines get too long!” Reiner was like a big kid, and he had a head start. The other two followed him, noticing a difference in the carnival they went to every single year.

All the same attractions were there. There was the same Ferris wheel, a couple swings and a carousel. Some bumper cars as well. Not to mention the balloon darts and of course the cranes and candy carts. It was all here, in the same place that they were placed every single year. The main difference however, was the atmosphere.

Reiner among them did not seem to care. He always loved coming here and looked forward to it. The only one that was the most aware was Annie. She didn’t know what it was, but there was definitely something different.

“Guys, check out the moon!” Bertholdt then pointed up so they could look at it.

The full moon was the largest they had ever seen, as far as they could tell. Maybe that was all it was. The moon was just more ominous looking and that made it seem different.

So Annie convinced herself that it was just that. However, in the back of her mind, she knew something was up. And they left the topic alone for about another hour or so.

“Hey guys.” Annie finally spoke up to bring the subject back. “Do you notice anything different?”

Reiner shrugged in the middle of eating some funnel cake. “Not really. Everything looks the same. Hasn’t changed since we were like twelve.”

“But you yourself did say that it was weird the carnival was open so late.”

“Maybe they finally realized that most people work during the day and miss it.” Bertholdt sat back on a bench. “There aren’t really that many kids here.”

Annie sighed. “True, I guess. It’s just… something is strange.”

Reiner then noticed something further back and pointed. “Could it be that back tent over there?”

The other two saw it. They got up and walked to it.

“I see now,” she mused. “There’s a new attraction.”

“Awesome!” Reiner looked at the front. He read the sign. “ _Festival of Fear…_ Your deepest fears come to live. Good luck finding your way out alive… Five bucks?!”

“Looks like one of those cheesy attractions,” Bertholdt sighed.

“But for five bucks?” Reiner groaned. “That’s a rip off!”

Annie shrugged. “That’s about the same price as the balloon darts, Reiner. It’s really not that big of a deal.”

The brunette nodded and took out a five dollar bill—his remaining money. “Yeah. Let’s check it out. We can’t go to this carnival without seeing _every_ attraction. Now we have this new one.”

A shiver went down Annie’s spine, but she shrugged it off. She nodded. “Let’s get inside before it gets too late.”

The three of them went inside with their money. However the sign that Reiner just read was really a flimsy piece of paper. The breeze from their entrance knocked it down to reveal a caution notice.

**CLOSED – Health Violations**

**–**

_Reiner, Bertholdt, and Annie were not_ sure where to even put their money. They looked around the inside of the tent and really saw nothing interesting. It was too dark.

“Guys, I think it’s closed,” Bertholdt said.

“No shit,” Annie muttered. “There’s nothing here. Let’s go home.”

“Yeah. No way I’m wasting five bucks on this bs.” He turned to get out, and so did the others.

But the way the just came from was suddenly blocked.

The three of them flinched back. This was just a tent, how could their exit be blocked off? Suddenly the lights came on, revealing different booths and lights of vibrant colors. Supposedly the tent was much larger than they originally thought.

Music started to play, kind of like the music on the carousel. Only this music sounded more eerie. There was a cheerful laughter that rang out next to Reiner that made him jump. They all then saw a gangly man with a white mask over half of his face.

“Welcome to the Festival of Fear!” he grinned, his teeth shining while he held out a gloved hand. “Please pay your admission fee.”

Reiner tilted his head. “Marco?”

“No, I’m the Fear Bringer!” he chuckled as they paid him. He stuffed the money in his pocket. “I know all of your deepest fears.”

“When did they hire you to host an attraction like this one?” Annie muttered.

“I’m not sure what you mean,” he chuckled, obviously in character. “Your goal is to make it through to the other side of this tent, but it’s not going to be an easy task.”

The burly blonde shrugged. “I think this won’t be that hard, Marco.”

The familiar face suddenly had a hard expression. His lips were still twisted up in a forced grin. “I’ll make it extra tricky for you,” he seethed. “You seem to be a brave man. But watch. There is a way to make you crack. And you have let no one hear the end of it.”

The words were taken right out of Annie and Bertholdt’s mouths.

“And you.” Marco the “Fear Bringer” then looked at the brunette. “Make sure that you can see your way to the other side. Sometimes it might be a little difficult.”

Bertholdt gulped.

He then turned his attention to Annie. “And you my dear, are very difficult to read.” He leaned close. “You show a lot of bravery, and that I admire. But there is one thing that I can do to make passing through the festival a little tricky.”

The blonde looked into his eyes. This was not Marco. He looked like him, even sounded like him. But this was without a doubt a different person.

The Fear Bringer went over to a lever and smiled as he broke off into a fit of laughter. “Good luck, and have _fun_ at the Festival of Fear!” He cackled and pulled the lever, and as soon as he did the inside of the tent changed.

There was pitch darkness. Bertholdt’s breathing grew a little hard from panic. He couldn’t see anything in front of him, not even his own hands. He reached into his pocket and took out his cell phone, attempting to turn it on to emit light in this blackness. He knew that it was working… but there was still not a single ray of light, even with it on.

“O-oh no,” he gasped and attempted to step forward. There was no way to tell if he was stepping on anything, or if anyone was around him. His heart was pounding.

Although Bertholdt was in complete darkness, not even two feet away from him Reiner was seeing something totally different. He couldn’t really see the others, but he could hear them going through. Currently he was in a murky hallway, with mold growing on the walls and a couple rodents scurrying here and there.

Reiner snorted. “This is too easy.” He walked forward, seeing the exit look seemingly close. He started to run.

However, there was one thing that made him stop dead in his tracks.

It had to be seven feet tall. And it was thin with abnormally large limbs. It was looking at Reiner with such a twisted smile. It couldn’t be human. However, the only word that could come to his mind was—

“C-clown!” he gasped out. “…Shit, I fucking hate clowns!” He looked away.

But as soon as he turned, another clown was standing right next to him, its teeth showing in a sharp grin while the paint of its face gave away an unmistakably evil expression. When Reiner flinched back and turned the other direction, guess what was right in front of him now.

“They’re everywhere!” he cried. And they didn’t seem welcoming at all, like other clowns that seemed to look naturally entertaining. These clowns were monsters.

Annie seemed relatively fine. Unlike Reiner, she couldn’t hear them. She was stuck slowly walking through the hall. It looked exactly the same as it did before, and there was nothing out of the ordinary. Or… so she thought. The walls didn’t seem that close when she first looked at them.

And all the Fear Bringer could do was watch the fun as the three of them went through their deepest phobias. And he knew that none of them would make it out the same way, if they ever did at all.

–

**Nyctophobia**

_For a minute there Bertholdt thought_ he stepped on something wet or marshy, and he flinched back, only to be startled by hitting a wall he didn’t realize was there. He looked into the blackness warily. And then finally he heard a sound.

“ _Help…_ ”

It was very faint, as if miles away, but Bertholdt could hear the voice clearly.

“Hello?” He called out into the darkness, and he didn’t expect the reply to sound so close.

“ _Help me…_ ”

It definitely was louder than before, and he could recognize who made the sound. “…Jean? You’re in here?”

“ _Help…”_ was all Jean could say. His voice sounded gargled now, like he was underwater.

“Jean, I’m coming!” he called out. He didn’t even know where he was, how was he supposed to help him? He tried reaching his arms out and feeling his way through. He knew that he was stepping on something wet by hearing the splooshes underneath him. He shuddered each time, not know what kind of liquid he was even stepping in. ‘Oh my god, oh my god,” he gasped and still reached out, his heart pounding.

“ ** _H e l p  m e …_** ”

He felt that chilling breeze right on his neck when he heard Jean’s voice again, and he flinched and quickly ran the other way, tripping. He fell on the ground, the liquid already soaking his shirt as he shivered. His eyes were wide as he stared behind him. Even though he couldn’t see what he tripped over, he knew exactly what it was from the fleshy feeling he got when touching it with his foot.

He tripped over a body.

Bertholdt tried getting up but there was a dead weight at his ankle. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t break free. The weight was sinking. It was pulling him down, and he had no idea where it was taking him.

“Help!” His first instinct was to call out for someone to save him. He tried kicking the figment away, but it had no response, not even a grunt. He gasped at a sudden chill, and what seemed like hands were grabbing at him and pulling him under more and more. “Help me!”

He took out his phone, once again not being able to see anything in front of him. The way a hand quickly grabbed at his hair and dragged him into this unknown depth he felt the air quickly get sucked out of his body and his eyes dizzily close after moments of trying to hold on.

He couldn’t even tell if he was dead.

–

**Coulrophobia**

_Reiner’s first instinct after the initial_ shock was to run. Rightfully so. He could hear the strange cackling and the thrilled shrieks all around him, not even drowned out by the eerie music around him. This was the scariest ass circus he had ever been to, to be honest.

“Jesus Christ!” he jumped when once again the seven foot giant was looming over him with that black-toothed grin. It looked like it was hiding something behind his back.

After this, Reiner never wanted to watch another special on TV with any subtle hint of clowns in them ever again.

He tried running under the clown’s legs, only to be greeted once more by a shorter one that was giggling with a shrill delight.

“Oh _hell_ no!” He glared and mustered up some of his courage to lunge forward and kick it in the shin.

He watched its knees buckle, and to his relief he realized that they could feel pain. Or at least that one could. He could recognize the voice as it groaned and doubled over. Reiner paled.

“…Connie?”

The clown looked up when hearing the name. Reiner could tell by the facial features that it was definitely Connie. At least it was his _body_. But for some reason, it definitely did not feel like it was Connie. He realized that was kind of like with Marco… the Fear Bringer. He _looked_ like Marco. He _sounded_ like Marco. But he was most certainly not him. Something else took his body over.

Just like what had happened with Connie’s body.

He wondered who else had gone into this tent and underwent this transformation. This was really getting to him.

“I have to find the others,” he said at last, and he went to turn back.

But as he reached out to head the other direction, someone—or some _thing_ —grabbed at him. He felt a sudden chill and used his elbow to quickly jab it away from him. But as soon as that happened there was a clown on his right side that quickly jumped on him and knocked him over.

Reiner quickly shook his head, the sudden odor from these creatures making him gag. He was overwhelmed by the smell and the pain from jagged nails scratching and the _cackling_. He was overwhelmed by his complete lack of strength and his throat quickly growing hoarse from yelling out to his friends to be careful and _please help me!_

There was another thing he was never going to do as he suddenly noticed the abnormal size of the moonlight emanating from a whole in the fabric of the tent that he could _just_ make out. If by some miracle he’d survive tonight, he was never going back to this carnival again.

–

**Claustrophobia**

_There it went again. Annie knew_ that the hallway _had_ to be getting narrower. There was no way that she was just imagining it. She could tell by the lights overhead. As she walked the number of them tied together along the roof of the tent was depleting in twos.

Then again there were only twenty at the start. Then there were eighteen when she blinked again. Then sixteen… fourteen.

No way.

Annie started to run. She didn’t have to do any math to notice that there was almost no time to get across to the other side. Just when she thought that she was getting closer to the exit, it turned out that she was much further away than anticipated. This had to be an illusion, but at the same time… it just couldn’t be!

There wasn’t that much space beyond the lengths of her arms. She could almost touch the walls at this point, and her heart raced. What kind of attraction was this? She wasn’t going to get suffocated in here, was she?

She noticed some intricate designs on the walls as she ran. But as the walls came closer she realized they weren’t necessarily marks. They were scratches. And those scratches had then turned into names.

**Springer.**

She could point out the ones she knew, and she paled. That was Connie’s name. Did this mean that he had been here?

**Kirschtein.**

Jean was here too? That was right. Connie, Jean, Sasha and Marco were supposed to meet them here at the carnival, and they never even got to the meeting place. This didn’t mean that they had went into this attraction, right?

**Blaus.**

Sasha’s name was on the wall. And Marco was already inside as the… Fear Bringer.

**Bodt.**

There his name was, scratched on in crimson unlike the others. This was starting to freak her out.

Her pace was getting quicker. She was almost there. The exit was _right there,_ and she could almost smell the fresh air. She tried pushing the walls further away from here because they were now _that_ close.

**Fubar.**

She stiffened at seeing Bertholdt’s last name up there on the way. They shouldn’t have gone inside this tent.

**Braun.**

She was almost there, but then the walls started to get way too close for comfort, and they wouldn’t stop getting closer. For the first time since she got in here, she had absolute fear in her eyes. She knew that she wasn’t going to get out of here. She let out a cry for help.

**Leonhardt.**

The lights went off in the tent. It went back to the way it was before the three of them went inside. The only thing that was there was the stuck-on grin of the Fear Bringer as he was staring out at the entrance and quickly stuck the paper back on over the **CLOSED** sign.

_“Thank you for coming to the Festival of Fear.”_

**Author's Note:**

> [tumblr](http://tiff-the-little-wanderer.tumblr.com)   
>  [twitter](http://twitter.com/wandering_tiff)


End file.
